


fantasy uhauling

by placentalmammal



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, FatT Femslash Week, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 06:17:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19351189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/placentalmammal/pseuds/placentalmammal
Summary: Sometimes you move in with someone you just met because you're pretty sure you love them, and sometimes it works out.





	fantasy uhauling

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mercutioes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mercutioes/gifts), [noiselesspatientspider](https://archiveofourown.org/users/noiselesspatientspider/gifts).



There were entire neighborhoods in Marielda that had never seen the sun: crooked little shanty towns built in the lee of wealthy communities, barrios built in the no-man’s-land ‘neath the elevated tracks of the Crosstown Express. The city had been reconfigured a hundred-thousand times, and Samothes’ great work had left behind pockets of inhabitable land inside and underneath the districts marked out on the official maps. Marielda was brownstones and polished brass, but it was also weavers’ dens and cobbins’ tunnels and dark, quiet places where two girls could go to be alone.

One such place was an apartment block in the forgotten quarter, a shabby place that not even Hitchcock knew about. Caroline paid a few coppers coins each week for two shabby, windowless rooms, that had long-since gone grey with neglect. The wallpaper was peeling and the bedsprings had sprung, but it was hers. Hers and Miss Salary’s and nobody else’s. They had made the dark, dismal space homier with a rag rug and stolen mage lamps, which held the gloom at bay with a soft, burnished sort of light.

Humming to herself, Caroline put water on for tea. She set two cups and saucers--patterned with violets and meadowsweet--on a silver tray, and as the water began to boil, she took care to ensure that everything was arranged just-so. The porcelain was chipped and the silver tarnished, but the gentle, diffused glow of the mage lamps was more forgiving than the light of Samothes’ sun. Caroline thought she preferred it that way, thought that she’d be sorry to meet the god-king who’d split the island city off from the mainland. She was glad to live in lowtown, in the undercity untouched by his light.

The kettle began to whistle, and she turned to find that Salary had already removed it from the stove. She poured the steaming water over the tea leaves, and the subtle fragrance of hibiscus filled the small room.

“Go on,” she said cheerily, nudging Caroline aside with her hip, “sit down. I’ve got it handled.”

Caroline hesitated for a moment. The last time Salary had said that she had something handled, she’d started a fire that had very nearly burned down a confectioner’s shop and destroyed the cache of seditious literature hidden in his storeroom. Together, Salary and Caroline had managed to suppress the fire and rescue the books, but it had been a near thing, and they had almost been arrested by three separate Lance Nobles. Caroline could make a compelling case that Salary wasn’t to be trusted around sweets, open flames, or bawdy poetry about Samothes’ husband, all three of which were in evidence in their small kitchen.

Instead, she said nothing and took a seat at the well-scrubbed kitchen table. Caroline propped her chin on her fist and watched the other girl bustle secretively around the small space, her thoughts warm and cozy and fond. It had been only a few months since she and Salary had met, but it felt as though they’d known one another for much longer. Things were easy between them, natural as breathing and comfortable as a pair of broken-in boots.

She and Salary talked for hours every night, and they’d gotten good at resolving their disagreements before they grew into arguments. It was funny, how much better her life was for Salary’s presence in it--Caroline wasn’t sure how she’d ever managed to fall asleep without Miss Salary beside her, warm and solid and always asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

“Ta-da!” Grinning like a madwoman, Salary set the tea tray in front of Caroline with a flourish. In addition to the teapot and the cups and saucers, it contained two craggy scones, citrus-y and fragrant and studded with dried cranberries. Caroline made a noise of delight and Salary beamed, settling into the seat opposite hers. “It’s from the new bakery on the avenue,” she said, excitedly, “I know you said you’d been wanting to try it--”

Caroline took her hand across the table and kissed her palm. “Thank you,” she said, smiling, “You’re so sweet to me.”

“It was nothing,” said Salary, obviously pleased with herself, “I’d been wanting to try it, too. I heard the proprietress is a tea witch or a bread witch or something like that.” She poured the tea and passed a cup to Caroline, not bothering to hide her blush or her too-wide grin.

“You’re sweet,” Caroline repeated, “it’s wonderful. Thank you.”

Salary demurred, and they chatted amicably while they sipped their tea and ate their scones. Caroline offered to read Miss Salary’s tea leaves as she always did, but she couldn’t pick out any shapes in the pattern of the black leaves at the bottom of the cup. “It’s either an ‘m’ or an ‘s,’” she said, squinting at the dregs.“Quite possibly a knife, if a knife could be crooked.”

Salary shook her head and began to clear the table. “Well, I’ll avoid strangers in dark alleys, just in case,” she said drily. “Unless it’s an ‘s,’ and then I’ll go looking for them.”

“Strangers have purses,” said Caroline. “One should always be on the lookout.”

The other girl laughed, an inelegant and unselfconscious snort of amusement that made Caroline's heart leap in her chest. "You're clever," she said, and the way she said it meant _I love you._

Caroline beamed at her. "Far too clever for you" she retorted, and the way she said it meant _I love you, too._


End file.
